Oh, That Food Is Unsafe for Humans? Let’s Give it to Our Pets

Do you know what’s in your pet’s food? If you have ever wondered about what’s really in your pet’s “Classic Chicken Feast,” like I have, you should be very worried. You definitely will be when you discover where this food might come from.

Food that as been “rendered unsafe or unsuitable for human consumption” is salvaged and sold to other industries. It appears that pet food companies will gladly purchase this rotten food.

Considering how we view our companion animals and the fact that this is a multi-billion dollar industry, the lack of regulations for animal food is surprising. It’s also surprising that the FDA doesn’t really get involved until after there’s already a problem with food that’s on the market.

“If you are looking for a list of pet food manufacturers and you found us it’s more than likely because you have a product that HACCP deems you can’t responsibly sell it for human consumption. Why destroy the product when you can sell it to the pet food manufacturers? You can spend all day making phone calls and sending emails to various pet food manufacturers but trust me you will never have the years of contacts we have.”

Many manufacturing companies rely on Midwest Ingredients, Inc. to find a place in the market for their waste stream. We are committed to working closely with the manufacturer to ensure their specifications are met. We are able to help these manufacturers through our commitment to service, proven reliability, and extensive resources.”

Spoiled, Rotten Ingredients in Your Pet‘s Food

As TruthAboutPetFood points out, pet food labels make no mention of “salvage” food ingredients. You are unlikely to come across a pet food label that states “Made with Salvage Chicken (exposed to radiation and stored in a hot warehouse).”

Instead, you will probably find glossy pictures of choice cuts of meat and fresh vegetables on the pet food label.

Most of us view our pets as family members, yet we are innocently but mistakenly feeding our four-legged friends food that is toxic and life threatening.

The cats and dogs that share our homes look to us to provide them with a nutritional diet that will protect them against disease and illness. By continuing to purchase commercial pet food that doesn’t have our pet’s welfare in their best interest, we are not only fueling a destructive and deceitful industry, we are also putting our pets at risk.

It doesn’t have to be this way. New York City, for example, produces a lot of surplus food that is “rescued” by City Harvest. The group works alongside foundations, corporations, organizations and donors, as well as farmers, bakers, cafeterias and more, to deliver food to over 400 emergency food programs throughout the five boroughs. This year alone, City Harvest will rescue 46 million pounds of excess food.

But our companion animals don’t get the same treatment. Instead, spoiled food, which has been deemed unfit for human consumption, is ground and cooked into pet food.

What Can You Do About it?

Start by recognizing that this is a real problem and try to spot which companies are trying to deceive you. This means reading the labels, being vigilant about what you choose to feed your pets and, if in doubt, do some research on your pet food company to find out where their ingredients come from.

You could also try preparing homemade pet food. I have a couple of friends who do this, and they assure that it’s not very time-consuming and that there are a whole host of resources available online to help get you started.